With the trend toward increased use of the living room or den as a recreational and entertainment space, many consumers desire seating units that provide function beyond the seating and support provided by conventional seating units. One functional area of interest to consumers, particularly when living space is limited, is increased storage capacity. Especially in rooms used for family entertainment, consumers desire convenient receptacles for the storage of reading materials, remote control units for televisions, stereos, and video cassette recorders, playing cards, games, and the like. Furniture units, such as end tables, desks, and ottomans, that contain storage receptacles for items of this sort can provide additional storage while simultaneously serving the more traditional functions of these pieces.
One class of furniture unit that has been utilized for storage, although somewhat less than it might have been, is seating units, such as sofas, couches, love seats, and chairs. An exemplary seating unit having storage capability is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,671,228 to DeMaria, which illustrates a sofa bed that includes a pair of storage drawers. The drawers are positioned side-by-side beneath the seating surface of the sofa and can be accessed from the front of the sofa. Their sliding movement is controlled by a centrally located beam and by the frame that defines the front surface of the sofa. The drawers are formed of interconnected wood planks. Other drawers that have been included beneath sofas have been mounted on drawer slides formed of wood or metal.
One shortcoming of drawers of this type has been their durability. These drawers can be overloaded with the weight of various stored items. Also, because of the low position of the drawer, it is particularly susceptible to being kicked or stepped on, particularly by children, when it is partially or completely open. When such overloading occurs, the tendency has been for either the drawer itself or for slide rails supporting the drawer to fracture. Although it is certainly undesirable for the drawer to fracture, it is particularly undesirable for the rails to fracture, as such fracture requires a very awkward repair task beneath the sofa itself.
Drawers have been constructed from materials other than wood. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,610,720 to Hosmer, which discloses a drawer "for an item of furniture," is predominantly formed of thermoplastic. The drawer is configured to have indentations in its side walls to receive rails upon which it slides. The floor, side walls, and rear wall are integrally formed of an injection-molded structural foam thermoplastic. This subassembly is then attached through screws and brackets to a separate wooden face plate. Hosmer states that the purpose for using the thermoplastic piece is to eliminate the warpage seen in wooden drawers and to reduce weight and expense over wooden drawers. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,312,516 to Krahn discloses a three-piece drawer that includes side walls formed of an extruded thermoplastic rail and a separate floor formed of a plastic, plywood, composition board, or other compressed or laminated material. After the rail profile is extruded, the rail is heated and bent to form the side and rear walls of the drawer. Once formed, the side walls have a indented portion beneath an overhanging flange that mates with a drawer slide rail and a protruding pocket that receives and mates with the floor. A front cross piece is attached to the side walls and floor. Each of the drawers disclosed in these references comprises multiple pieces and thus has some significant labor expense in assembly.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a drawer suitable for use with a seating unit that remains intact when heavily loaded with storage items.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a drawer suitable for use with a seating unit that remains intact if stepped on or jarred while in partially or completely open position.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a drawer suitable for use with a seating unit that can be easily and relatively inexpensively manufactured.